PESHAWAR: Expressing satisfaction over the report of joint investigation team, Mashal Khan`s father Mohammad Iqbal has demanded transfer of the case from Mardan to Peshawar High Court.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar press Club on Monday, Mr Iqbal, whose son Mashal Khan was lynched on April 13, 2017 on premises of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan by a mob, also demanded provision of counsel on government expenses and putting names of the key university officials on exit control list till final verdict of the Supreme Court in the case.

He said that the report of JIT proved that his son was innocent and not involved in any kind ofblasphemous act. `The only sin of my son`s was that he wanted the university to become a well reputed educational institution of the province. It offended some of the influential people in and out of the university. They eradicated him through a well-planned conspiracy,` he added.

Mr Iqbal said that he himself and his family members didn`t feel secure so he would be unable to attend court proceedings in Mardan.

He said that influential people were involved in the murder of his son so he could not appear in court in Mardan.

He said that provincial government should provide him with a lawyer as he could not afford to hire a lawyer for the case.

The father of the killed student said that if provincial government failed to entertain his request then he would appeal to federal government for the same support because he could not stretch hands before people for financial support to pursue the case.

He said that names of all sitting and former officials of the university should be put on ECL and a thorough investigation should be carried out into the record of theuniversity to ascertain as to who were responsible for harming the university.

Mr Iqbal demanded probe into financial embezzlement and appointments on different posts in the university.

He said that Mashal`s blood would go waste if situation of the university was not improved.He appealed to all politicians and lawmakers to support him getting justice. Flanked by Dr Said Alam Mehsud, Advocate Abdul Lateef, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Mukhtar Bacha, Liaquat Yousafzai and Advocate Shahab Khattak, he said that the accused persons also included some professional criminals.

Mr Iqbal said that three of the suspects were still at large. He demanded their immediate arrest to complete the course of investigation. He said that his children had never missed their classes but af ter the gory incident of Mashal`s murder his children avoided to attend classes.

Mr Iqbal lauded Supreme Court of Pakistan for taking suo moto notice of his son`s lynching and ordering probe through JIT. He also thanked the investigators for completing the process in a short time.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Said Alam Mehsud urged political parties and media to oppose all those, who were holding protest rallies in support of the arrested suspects. He said that after the JIT report, all the stakeholders should raise voice for justice to Mashal`s family.